1950 Leo Lyons Ultra Modern Merc - 50UMM3-1
by Frank J Benz
Title
1950 Leo Lyons Ultra Modern Merc - 50UMM3-1
Artist
Frank J Benz
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
1950 Leo Lyons Ultra Modern Merc Custom
I was very surprised to find this car out on the street in our local area, within three miles of home, and just had to take a couple photos of this amazing, gorgeous and historic automobile created by Leo Lyons in San Bernardino, California.
The Ultra Modern Merc is distinguished as the last extraordinary full custom Mercury built in the 1950s. This car is literally a piece of art, a testament to Leos creativity, styling genius, and is a pleasure to view in person. This car started life as a 1950 Mercury, the planning started in 1949, parts were gathered during 1954, construction began in 1955 and continued through the summer of 1959. The car made its debut at the Disneyland Car Club Day and Autocade on September 5, 1959. The car appeared in many magazines and car shows but after 1965 was pretty much out of the view of the public. The car was sold a few times over the years but never shown and fell into a state of disrepair, in 2013 a gentleman named Geoffrey Hacker bought the Ultra Modern Merc and the car has again been brought back to life and in August of 2015 was on display on the hallowed grounds of the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance celebrating and honoring Leo Lyons and his Ultra Modern Merc. It was unfortunate that Leo did not get to see his car at Pebble Beach as Mr. Lyons passed away on November 22, 2014 at the age of 84 but his memory lives on in the Ultra Modern Merc.
Because the car is all steel and with large amounts of lead used during customizing, the car ended up with a curb weight of around 4,500 pounds, there is no fiberglass in this beautiful full custom automobile. The grille shell was molded, a set of 1955 Buick Roadmaster and Super headlight bezels were recessed into the fenders, chrome bullets from a 1955 Buick were placed under the headlights (also known as Dagmars), a mesh screen was used for the grille, a center star from a 1955 Ford truck was installed as a decoration, a 1955 Chevy Bel Air 4-door side trim was used, a 1958 Nash antenna is on the deck lid and the left and right quarter panels were new from a Mercury convertible. The rear fenders had open tips with 1957 Pontiac exhaust pieces used as bumperettes, the taillights were custom cut Plexiglas around the exhaust ports and the back up lights were from a 1953 Pontiac, the top was custom made to fit a 1955 Mercury windshield and the rear window was of custom fit Plexiglas. Body color was blue, with matching blue and white rolled and pleated Naugahyde for the dash, seats, headliner, side panels and doors. The dashboard of the car was designed to be both glamorous and safe, the instruments were taken from a 1955 Studebaker, the steering wheel from a 1950 Ford Custom Deluxe and the hubcaps were modified from a 1955 Studebaker, a true full custom design and build. The original Buick V-8 engine did not survive the journey through time and was replaced with a 401 cubic inch 1963 Buick V-8 engine.
Automotive photos look great displayed in a den, family room, office, garage, auto service shop waiting rooms, tire stores, parts stores, hot rod shops and upholstery shops. If you are not interested in one of these photos for yourself do not forget about your friends or other family members that have an interest in the automotive field. Photos make marvelous gifts and are suitable for numerous occasions ! ! !
Uploaded
February 12th, 2016
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